Moray Council has approved an ambitious three-year digital strategy that places artificial intelligence and automation at the centre of its efforts to modernise service delivery, marking a significant step toward tech-driven efficiency improvements across the Scottish local authority sector.
The council’s digital vision, approved in August 2025, aims to “embrace the possibilities that digital technologies provide to improve outcomes and services for our customers and our workforce and enable a digitally connected community”. This comprehensive transformation programme arrives as Scottish local authorities grapple with unprecedented financial constraints and mounting service demands.
Strategic Implementation Framework
The digital strategy is structured around three core themes designed to maximise organisational efficiency. Business systems and processes improvements focus on streamlining operations through reduced duplication and automation. Customer experience enhancements will make services more accessible through expanded online offerings, while workforce development initiatives will equip staff with digital skills needed for modern service delivery.
Chair of Moray Council’s Corporate Committee, Councillor Donald Gatt, said: “This strategy is about making sure Moray Council is ready for the future. By using digital tools in smarter ways, we can improve services, support our staff, and make the best use of our resources”.
The council has allocated zero percent of its departmental budget specifically to AI-related projects for the current fiscal year, though it has secured Microsoft 365 infrastructure that will support Copilot implementation. Officials report “moderate confidence in achieving some of the expected benefits” from AI deployment.
Wider Digital Infrastructure Investment
Moray Council’s digital transformation is supported by substantial infrastructure investment. The 2025/26 budget includes £526,000 for ICT upgrades and replacements, including school computers, with £75,000 already invested in the first quarter. The council has also allocated £4.704 million for budget pressures that include “a programme of digitisation to facilitate transformation and continued improvement”.
The broader ICT service plan for 2025-2028 identifies transformation of council services as a key priority, with specific focus on “potential use of AI, IoT and data (e.g. Power BI)” alongside the Digital Maturity Assessment to facilitate collaboration and shared best practice.
Scottish Sector Context
Moray’s initiative reflects broader digital transformation momentum across Scottish local government. The Digital Office for Scottish Local Government, established in 2016, has secured £4.5 million in additional Scottish Government investment to support sector-wide digital transformation efforts. This coordinated approach aims to increase the pace of digital transformation and deliver on the ambitions outlined in Scotland’s National Digital Strategy.
Recent research by SAS indicates that UK government organisations face significant barriers to AI adoption, including cost and budget restrictions (67% of respondents), lack of technical expertise (63%), and outdated legacy systems (57%). However, the UK government’s own Microsoft 365 Copilot experiment involving 20,000 employees across 12 organisations demonstrated positive outcomes for productivity and user satisfaction.
Implementation Timeline and Challenges
While the digital strategy sets ambitious goals for 2025-2028, implementation faces practical challenges. The council has acknowledged “significant obstacles and uncertainties make full implementation unlikely in the next two years” for some AI initiatives. Data quality concerns and moderate confidence in infrastructure capacity for AI also present ongoing challenges.
The strategy will be reviewed annually to ensure it keeps pace with rapidly evolving technology and continues meeting community needs. This adaptive approach reflects the dynamic nature of digital transformation in the public sector, where technological advancement often outpaces organisational change capacity.
Moray Council’s digital strategy represents a significant commitment to technology-driven transformation in Scottish local government, positioning the authority to leverage AI and automation tools as they mature and become more accessible to public sector organisations.
